How To Clean Water Distiller | Maintenance of Water Distiller

How To Clean A Water Distiller | Maintenance of Water Distiller

How to clean a water distiller in 3 easy steps (video coming soon, but you can use the guide below in the meantime).

Plus learn how to extend the life of your distiller up to 30 years with our maintenance tips and tricks so stay tuned until the end of the video. One of the most frequently asked questions is: "How do I clean my Durastill water distiller?"

You can download the Ultimate Cleaning & Maintenance Guide for Durastill Water Distillers PDF below (coming soon). You can print it and hang it by your water distiller:

HOW TO Clean Your Water Distiller in 3 Easy Steps

EASYCLEAN Step #1: Clean the distiller boiling chamber

EASYCLEAN Step #2: Clean the water storage tank

EASYCLEAN Step #3: Replace the filters

You will find everything that we use in this video in our Durastill Maintenance Kit.

Before you clean your water distiller system

Unplug your distiller as a safety precaution

Step #1: Clean The Boiling Chamber

Remove the boiling chamber lid.

Drain your boiling chamber using the side drain. Sometimes there is so much filth and buildup in the boiling chamber that the side drain will clog or plug up as it drains. Usually the filth, scale and deposits in my distiller boiling chamber looks actually kind of like sand (that is the best way I can describe it). When this happens just scoop out this buildup with a spoon through the top of the boiling chamber lid hole. Try to spoon as much out as you can and be careful and gentle as you scoop with the boiling chamber float and the heating element. As you clear away the buildup the boiling chamber will finish draining and flush out some of the debit.

Fill up the boiling chamber so it is ¼ inch above the water fill line. This is easy to see because there is usually a mineral or scale line that goes around the boiling chamber. It is kind of like a line in a bathtub. We want the Durastill Still Clean to clean off this scale and build up, that is why we want to fill it above this water line level.

Add ¼ cup of Durastill Still Clean to the boiling chamber. Durastill Still Clean is made especially for Durastill Water Distillers! Still Clean has one simple ingredient: citric acid (found in lemons, limes and other citrus fruit). This food grade citric acid is used to clean the stainless steel boiling chamber and all of the components therein. Still Clean is the safest, fastest, easiest and most effective cleaner for Durastill Water Distillers! It does an excellent job of dissolving minerals, water scale and other boiling chamber residue.

Plug in the Distiller and bring the water to a boil. I timed my distiller and it took 5 minutes to warm up. As soon as it starts to boil, TURN OFF the distiller by unplugging it. We just want to warm the water up to help activate the Still Clean and improve the descaling and cleaning process.

Let the still clean sit in the boiling chamber for 12 hours. Don’t forget to leave the LID OFF this entire time you are cleaning the boiling chamber of your distiller! 12 hours later.

Drain the dirty water from the boiling chamber out the side drain. If the boiling chamber has not been cleaned in a long time or if you just have alot of scale, buildup and junk in your distiller, you may find that the drain gets clogged. I will just take a spoon and scoop out the junk. Depending on the chemicals in your water this may look different, but mine is almost like a fine sand like texture. NOTE: If the boiling chamber is not as clean as you want it then repeat the cleaning process again.

Close the side drain and fill up the boiling chamber to the fill line.

Add 1 teaspoon of Durastill Still Sweet to the boiling chamber (this extends the life of your distiller. It keeps the minerals and scale soft and prevents it from sticking to the boiling chamber, we will talk about this in detail later in the video).

Then tighten down the distiller lid before you continue to the next step.

Step #2: Clean the water storage tank

We are actually going to “steam clean” or “autoclave” the stainless steel water storage tank to clean and sterilize the tank at the same time.

Remove the Durastill Post Filter and the line.

Connect the “steamer tube”. Depending on your storage tank size you will connect the steamer tube directly from the cooling coil to the tank (this is true if you have the 4 or 10 gallon tank). If you have the 25 gallon tank you just attach the vinyl tube to the metal steamer tube, since the opening is at the front of the tank. Make sure the metal ring is just tight enough to prevent steam from escaping.

Plug the water distiller. You will hear the fan turn on and that is an easy way to tell if it is on.

TURN OFF THE FAN SWITCH. When the fan is on, it cools down the steam into water. When the fan switch is OFF the steam does not cool down. The hot steam goes directly into the water storage tank and steam cleans or autoclaves it.

Steam Clean the tank for 20 minutes. After you see steam coming out of the VOC vent on the top of the distiller start your timer. WARNING: becareful the water storage tank will become very hot during this sterilization process. Do not touch the tank

After 20 minutes UNPLUG the distiller to turn everything off. Let the whole system cool for completely before you continue (that includes the water distiller head and the storage tank). I would recommend you wait at least 1 hour.

Step #3: Replace The Filters

Our last step is to replace the Durastill Pre-Filter and the Durastill Post-Filter. Everyone will need to at least replace the post-filter. Some of you may have manual fill Durastill Water Distiller or you have your automatic water distiller system in “manual mode” and the water line is not hooked up. In other words you are not using the inline pre-filter, so you will skip this first step.

Unscrew the pre-filter and replace it. Don’t forget to turn off your water line from your pressurized source of water or you will make water mess. (skip this step if you have no pre-filter)

Unscrew the post-filter and replace it. Then reconnect the post filter and line to the water storage tank.

TURN ON the fan switch. With the fan switch on you will be making water again as the fan cools the steam into water.

PLUG IN your distiller and let it distill at least 1 gallon of water (this should take 2-3 hours).

Then drain the water storage tank and discard this water.

You just learned how to clean your Durastill Water Distiller!

How do you extend the life of your water distiller up to 25 to 30 years?

You must keep your distiller clean to maximize the life of your water distiller.

You should clean your water distiller and replace your filters every 6 months, 12 months max.

You also need to drain you boiling chamber every month and we recommend using Durastill Still Sweet in your boiling chamber to reduce scaling and mineral buildup.

Why should you drain your boiling chamber every month and why do you need Still Sweet?

The Durastill owners manual actually recommends draining your boiling chamber after every 20 gallons of water you distill. For most people it would not be practical to drain the boiling chamber every week, so we recommend you drain it monthly.

Durastill Still Sweet is made especially for Durastill Water Distillers! Still Sweet makes flushing or draining your boiling chamber easier because the mineral deposits and scale remains soft (kind of like putty instead of like sand). The tagline is "Keeps Minerals In Solution to Minimize Scaling." It prevents minerals and scale from becoming hard like a rock and sticking to the inside of the boiling chamber including the walls, heating element, float and other components. This is NOT A CLEANER.Still Sweet is basically a food grade water softener made of salts that stays in your boiling chamber while it operates.

Still Sweet is made with two simple ingredients (these are 2 types of salts): Sodium Hexametaphosphate, Sodium Tripolyphosphate. It does NOT distill across with the water. The Still Sweet remains in the boiling chamber until it is drained out (hopefully every month when you drain it). Don't forget to add a new scoop of Still Sweet to the first new batch of water added after you drain the boiling chamber. This product makes draining your boiling chamber easy and extends the life of your distiller! For optimal performance we recommend using factory supplied Still Sweet for Durastill Water Distillers.

How do you clean the outside of your Durastill Water Distiller?

Do you recommend cleaning a water distiller with vinegar?

Instead of using Durastill Still-Clean you can use Distilled White Vinegar. I have cleaned my distiller with both vinegar and Still-Clean, but Still Clean works much better at dissolving and descaling the minerals and build-up. Now I only use still clean, but vinegar is an option if you prefer it.

What is included in the Maintenance Package?

-1 pound bottle of Still Clean to clean your boiling chamber (this should last about 3-5 years depending on how dirty your source water is)

- 1 pound bottle of Still Sweet to soften the water in your boiling chamber (this salt keeps scale and minerals in a puddy like state, makes it really easy to drain your boiling tank every month)

- 1 Pre-Filter

- 1 Post-Filter

What do I need to do after I buy the maintenance package?

Your still clean and still sweet should last several years. Now you just need to buy new filters about every 6-12 months